It is estimated that 67% of the American population, or 210 million people, are currently overweight and a rising percentage of people around the world are also afflicted with this condition. Aside from a poor diet, studies suggest the reasons for this trend are increasingly busy lifestyles and decreased physical activity. There are numerous exercise devices and fitness programs on the market that are designed to help people lose weight and increase their fitness level. The drawbacks to most of these devices are that they take up a lot of space, are expensive and provide either weight training or aerobics, but not both. The current invention is an affordable, compact, portable exercise system that combines weight training and aerobic exercise. Many of the exercises performed with the invention actually provide weight training and aerobics simultaneously. This saves the user time as compared to performing weight training and aerobic exercises separately. The current invention is also multifunctional, which eliminates the need for users to purchase and store weight lifting equipment and aerobic equipment such as treadmills or ellipticals.
Another challenge to maintaining a regular exercise program over a long period of time is a lack of variety. People become bored of performing the same exercise over and over. For instance treadmills are effective for cardio, but they have a singular function.
Consequently, most people tire of just running on a treadmill several days per week for a period of years and simply quit doing it. Also, when the same exercise is performed repetitively the body adjusts to the movements, making the exercise less and less effective. To experience gains with less flexible equipment such as weight machines and treadmills, the user is forced to either extend the duration of the exercise or increase the weight. The disadvantage of extending the exercise is that it becomes more and more time consuming and the disadvantage to increasing weight is that it increases the chance for injury.
A principal advantage of the current invention is that many of the exercises allow the user to isolate particular muscles using a feature called “self-spotting”. With many of the exercises the user can employ a technique called self-spotting. This is where the user performs a one-handed exercise and uses the other hand to assist with the exercise. The advantage to self spotting is that the user can perform exercises with heavier weights. When the target muscle begins to fatigue they can smoothly perform several more repetitions using the other hand for assistance. The “spotted” repetitions are the most effective in breaking down the muscle, which causes it to grow. Self spotting cannot effectively be performed with standard dumbbell weights because there is no extension to grab with the free hand.
Several inventors have attempted to address these issues with various devices such as; U.S. Pat. No. 8,267,841 B2 to Michael Allison and Kasper Allison shows a kettle bell shaped apparatus that allows different size dumbbells to be attached to it. This device provides users with existing dumbbells the ability to also have variable weight kettle bells, without having to purchase kettle bells of each size. The current invention has a similar capability when the optional single grip handles are attached to the dumbbells. The difference between the Allison invention and the current invention is that the connection between the handle and the dumbbells is not rigid with the current invention. Also, Allison's invention has one purpose, whereas the current invention is multifunctional.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,518,486 to Sheeler (1996) has a similar use as the current invention when the current invention uses the optional inelastic foot strap. However Sheeler's invention is primarily designed for stretching whereas the current invention is designed for weight lifting, cross training, yoga and stretching. Sheeler's device includes a single grip handle at the top, an adjustable inelastic connector strap and a foot loop at the bottom. The device can be used for some aerobic exercises but is limited in its use because it lacks the capability of adding weight to the handles. Once the user's body has adjusted to the maximum level of resistance the device can provide, which is the user's own body weight, the device becomes limited in its effectiveness. Also, the device has a single handle for each hand. This limits the number of different exercises that are possible with the apparatus and limits the amount of resistance the user is able to transfer to their muscles. In contrast, the current invention can be used with a single bar or it can be used in a similar manor to Sheeler's by using two bars.